Enterprise Environmental Risk Assessment Management Under the Background of Regional Economic Integration

Introduction

The assumption discussed in this chapter is based on the fact that global regional economic integration has gradually become a reality, and several regional economic markets such as North America, Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South America have been formed. Thanks to the establishment of the WTO, countries implemented regional economic integration in order to protect themselves (Clegg, Forsans, and Reilly, 2003).

The two-year-long COVID-19 virus pandemic has hit most of the world hard. Implications include, but are not limited to, a new recession, rising unemployment and numerous SME bankruptcies (Klein and Smith, 2021). Therefore, it is necessary for major global economies consider economic recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic. Although according to the yearbook data, the Chinese economy has been less affected by the virus epidemic, but the economic policies of other countries will inevitably adjust after the pandemic, and these adjustments are a challenge to the Chinese economy during the existing pandemic (Figure 1). As a result, at this stage, whether it's China, which is less affected, or other major economies, the economy will be at greater risk after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Figure 1.

Economic risk inferences for major economies post-pandemic

This chapter mainly analyzes the impact of environmental risks in corporate risks. Due to the virus pandemic in the past two years, the performance of economic data does not have complete regularity and has its own characteristics. Therefore, many analyses in this article are also based on the data trends before the virus outbreak and the excellent performance of individual countries such as China during the virus epidemic. First, the environmental risk of an enterprise refers to the impact and the possibility of an accident on the environment (Document of the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, 2018). Actual or potential threats to biological organisms and the environment, such as air emissions, wastewater discharges, wastes generated during production and resource depletion, can be considered environmental risks. In recent decades, the rapid development of emerging industrial countries represented by the BRICS countries inevitably leads to increased pollution and deterioration of environmental quality in the relevant countries. There are more and more studies on the environmental risks of enterprises, especially industrial enterprises. In 2014, the GDP of the BRICS countries accounted for 21.85% of the global total, and carbon dioxide emissions accounted for 42.21% of the global total. Global carbon project statistics show that Russia ranked fourth in 2016, followed by Brazil and South Africa (Wang Xinjing et al., 2018). China's carbon emissions rank first in the world, and India ranks third (Table 1).

Source: Wang Xinjing & Zhou Baohua (2018).